Calling attention to Warriors All-Stars’ more subdued superstars

In Warriors All-Stars, there are 31 different characters for players to use. Some are incredibly familiar faces who have been around for years, like Dead or Alive’s Kasumi or Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa. Others are slightly less famous, but fans of Japanese games will be aware of the Atelier series’ Sophie or Toukiden’s Oka. But stowed away among these mostly memorable heroes are a few who aren’t as famous as the others. Wondering who they are? Michibiku is here to help!

Opoona from Opoona

Opoona is the titlular character of the Nintendo Wii-exclusive RPG Opoona. In his original game, he is a Landroll Ranger who uses the Holy Force to fight Dark Rogue. Well, here he is fighting alongside Tamaki to support her claim to the world’s throne. Even though he’s a little kid, he’s still a very strong warrior. So much so that he ends up becoming a Landroll Ranger, despite not having any training.

As for Opoona the game, it was rather unique. For one, you could play it entirely with only a Wii Nunchuk. It also offered a number of different jobs for Opoona to take, provided he put the time in to earn the proper licenses, so he wasn’t always out fighting Dark Rogue and going between locations outside the dome on errands. It was released worldwide, in case you’re interested in joining him on his original adventure.

Darius from Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 6

Here’s an interesting one. Darius is a character from the otome game Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 6, which was released on the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. He is a warrior who was raised in a demon village and eventually became its chief. He sweeps the heroine, Azusa, off her feet and spirits her away so his clan can host and hold the Black Dragon Priestess. Why? To try and stop long-held prejudices that separate the demon clans from the rest of the world’s inhabitants and keep the Dragon Priestesses’ power from being used in a militarization operation. In Warriors All-Stars, he sides with the oldest prince, Tamaki.

Unfortunately, you can’t find a copy of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 6 in English. In fact, you will not find any Harukanaru Toki no Naka de game in English. Koei Tecmo has yet to release any of the Haruka games outside of Japan. Though, Viz Media did bring the 17 volume Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time manga and Bandai Visual USA handled the 26 episode anime retelling the story of the original game to North America.

Arima Hajime from Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 6

Like Darius, Arima Hajime is from Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 6 and sides with Prince Tamaki in Warriors All-Stars. He is Captain of the Elite Squad in his original game. He possesses some otherworldly skills, due to contact he had with Kagutsuchi, a god who intended to use him for his own ends. He is at odds with Darius, as he is trying to help the Imperial Army reunite the Dragon Priestesses and Darius wants to stop that from happening so the Imperial Army’s Seishiro Katagiri wouldn’t use them for global supernatural militarization.

Rio from Rio

Oh boy. Rio is a tough one. She’s a mascot for a series of pachislot machines from Tecmo. The short of it is, she is a blackjack dealer for Howard Resort with tons of different outfits.She’s known for her extraordinary luck. In Warriors All-Stars, she supports Prince Setsuna, a young man who is cousin to Prince Tamaki and Princess Shiki and isn’t the next in line, due to his father having died years ago, but is still trying to throw his hat in the ring when it comes to succession.

Odds are, you will not see any of the Super Blackjack pachislot games outside of Japan, even though there have been machines released in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. You might have played the Rio Blackjack game, which appeared on iOS devices in 2009 though! Also, she did appear as a playable character in the PlayStation Portable game Dead or Alive Paradise in 2010.

Nobunyaga from Samurai Cats

Nobunyaga Oda is a tricky situation. He’s both familiar and unfamiliar. This guy is a cat version of Nobunaga Oda, who people might recognize from Koei Tecmo games like Kessen, Samurai Warriors, Toukiden and of course Nobunaga’s Ambition. The cat counterpart has the same attitude, demeanor and strength, but is just… a cat. Like Rio, he supports Prince Setsuna.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to play any of the Nobunyaga’s Ambition games. They are free-to-play mobile and browser-based games released only in Asia. The first is a war simulation called >Samurai Cats which did have a brief North American beta test that was discontinued in 2013. More recently, a rogue-like Guruguru Dungeon Nobunyaga has come to Android and iOS devices in Asia.